Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, CONSCIENCE, by NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

CONSCIENCE, by             Poem Explanation         Poet's Biography
First Line: If conscience smites thee once it is admonition


Within my heart a garden lies,
And in that garden stands a tree;
Its boughs are heavy with fruit of gold,
And silver leaves bedeck the tree.
My conscience is the garden's gate,
And there a bird with crimson breast
Sings sweetly early, sings alone,
And, singing, fans her speckled nest.
My soul, like that sweet bird, should be
Content within its sanctuary;
But, ah! it beats against the gate,
And longs to know what lies outside.
The fruit is knowledge, bitter-sweet,
And he who plucks must pay the price;
The leaves are dead philosophy,
But he who reads shall grow more wise.
Yet wisdom hath its price, O God!
Each bitter leaf must still be plucked;
And he who tastes, the first sweet fruit
Must still the second taste, and sucked.
For once within that sacred place,
The fruit of knowledge in his hand,
He can no more be innocent,
But must forever understand.
Oh, would that I had ne'er been born,
Or, having birth, had never known
The secret of that precious tree,
Or that my knowledge were my own!






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